Incorporating player-generated audio in an electronic game

ABSTRACT

Incorporating player-generated audio in an electronic game is disclosed. Incorporation may include receiving an audio clip from art electronic game player, applying a modification to the audio clip to generate a chant, associating the chant to the execution of an event in the electronic game, retrieving the chant when the event in the electronic game is executed, and initiating the play of the chant upon execution of the event in the electronic game.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation and claims the priority benefit ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/291,330 filed Nov. 7, 2008, issuingas U.S. Pat. No. 9,352,219, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to electronic gaming anduser-generated content. More specifically, the present inventionconcerns the use and incorporation of user-generated audio content in anelectronic gaming environment.

Description of the Related Art

Present networked video game play offers the ability to engage inconversation with other players. Such conversation is usually achievedthrough the likes of a USB- or Bluetooth®-microphone headset. Thevarious participants in a network game will carry on conversationsrelated to events in the game including ‘smack talk’ or other ‘taunting’of game players. This audio exchange is heard by all other membersengaged in a particular game play session.

In an instance of such ‘smack talk,’ one player might chastise the gameplay skills (or lack thereof) of another game player in response to aparticularly humbling moment in game play. For example, one player mightkill another game player in a military role playing game andvictoriously proclaim their ‘kill shot.’ Similarly, one player mighteffectuate a vicious tackle on another player in a football game therebyresulting in a fumble. The tacking player would then announce their gameplay prowess to the detriment of the tackled player that also committedan embarrassing and possibly costly turn-over.

Notwithstanding the ability of game players to introduce their personalcommentary into networked game play and for that commentary to be heardby all other game players in a particular game session, the related artis lacking in many respects. First, a user must repeatedly interjecttheir commentary by speaking into the microphone (headset or handheld).In a second such example, a user must make the commentary in the contextof continued game play. Repeatedly introducing commentary may becomplicated by a particularly difficult game situation or environmentthereby making the addition of audible commentary distracting andperhaps detrimental to continued advancement in the game.

The related art is also deficient in that a user may not have access tothe necessary equipment to introduce commentary during game play. Forexample, a user may not have a headset to allow for simultaneous gameplay and provisioning of commentary. A still further example instance oflacking in the art is where a user's hardware platform lacks thenecessary input ports to allow for introduction of both a control deviceand headset notwithstanding the fact of whether the headset wasavailable.

The art exhibits yet another lacking in that all user commentary comesdirectly from the user as a single voice. In certain gameenvironments—such as a sporting game set in a large arena—‘smack talk’or related user commentary may sound out of place or ‘small’ in thecontext of the overall game environment. Thus, a need clearly exists forimproved methodologies for introducing player-generated audio into anelectronic game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary methods and computer-readable storage media for incorporatingplayer-generated audio in an electronic game are disclosed. Such methodsmay include receiving an audio clip from an electronic game player,applying a modification to the audio clip to generate a chant,associating the chant to the execution of an event in the electronicgame, retrieving the chant when the event in the electronic game isexecuted and initiating the play of the chant upon execution of theevent in the electronic game. In some embodiments, the methods may beexecutable by software.

Exemplary apparatus for executing the above methods are disclosed. Suchapparatus may include an interface configured to receive an audio clipfrom an electronic game player, and a processor configured to executesoftware to apply a modification to the audio clip to generate a chant,associate the chant to the execution of an event in the electronic game,retrieve the chant when the event in the electronic game is executed,and initiate the play of the chant on an audio player upon execution ofthe event in the electronic game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network environment for the introductionof player-generated audio.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of an exemplary computing device thatmay—be utilized for the introduction of player-generated audio in anelectronic game executed in a network gaming environment, namely theprocessor configuration thereof.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for incorporatingplayer-generated audio in an electronic game.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system that may be used forincorporating player-generated audio in an electronic game executed in anetwork gaming environment including the exemplary processorconfiguration of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary architecture forincorporating player-generated audio into an electronic game. One ormore clients 102 may include one or more electronic games 104.Electronic game 104 may be built-in (e.g., pre-loaded) to the client 102or be introduced through an optical disk or other data storage medium.Electronic game 104 may also be obtained over a network. The client 102may be connected to a server 108 via a communications network 106 or toone another through an ad hoc network.

The client 102 may include a game console such as a PlayStation® 3, alaptop computing device, a portable game device such as the PlayStation®Portable, a desktop computing device, a cellular telephone, or any otherdevice capable of executing the electronic game 104 and connecting tothe network 106 or, alternatively, an ad hoc network. The client 102 maybe identified by an identification number such as a client ID or anaddress mechanism such as an IP address. An electronic game player usingclient 102 may ‘sign on’ to a network with a user name and/or password,which may be temporarily or permanently associated with the client 102.

Server 108 may include the electronic game 104; clients 102 may accessthe electronic game 104 on the server 108 via the network 106. Theelectronic game 104 on the server 108 may be an entire game, a portionof the game, or data related to the game as server 108 may also be anode allowing for the pass though, observation and/or collection of datarelated to the game 104 as the game 104 is played by users in the gamecommunity. The electronic game 104 may be similarly organized at variousclients 102 (e.g., portions of the game or game data related to thegame). Electronic game 104 may also be provided through, for example, athird-party content library server. The library server may or may not bea participating member of the architecture of FIG. 1.

Reference to a client 102 and a server 108 in the context of FIG. 1 andthe remainder of the present disclosure is for the convenience ofunderstanding various embodiments of the present invention. Embodimentsof the present invention may be implemented in the context of apeer-to-peer network, a client-server network, or within a peer-group(e.g. a specified group of peers). In some instances, a client mayfunction as a server and vice versa depending on the timing and thenature of a data exchange. For example, various clients in apeer-to-peer network may each include a portion of an electronic game104 or data related to that game 104 and may send and receive the same.As such, any reference to a client or a server is meant to be inclusiveof operations performed by one or both computing entities.

The electronic game 104 may include software that may be processed on orby the client 102 and/or that allows for or facilitates communicationand data exchanges with the other clients 102 and server 108 via thenetwork 106. The network 106 may include, for example, the Internet.Other proprietary or closed networks may be used either exclusively orin conjunction with the Internet. Certain security protocols (e.g., SSLor VPN) or encryption methodologies may be used to ensure the securityof data exchanges over network 106, especially if the network 106 is apublicly accessible network such as the Internet.

Electronic game players associated with each of the clients 102 mayinteract with other electronic game players playing the electronic game104. Accordingly, these electronic game players, or players, at clients102 may compete with one another despite not being physically presentwith one another or sharing a common gaming device or console.Electronic game 104 may include various events for which an electronicgame player may customize audio.

In an electronic baseball game, for example, art event may be a home runor the seventh-inning stretch. The event could also be the appearance ofa particular game character in the game such as Ryan Howard of thePhiladelphia Phillies stepping up to the plate. An event may constitutea combination of individual events. For example, an event may includethe appearance of a game player in conjunction with a particular eventsuch as Ryan Howard hitting a home run.

The execution of a game event in electronic game 104 may trigger theplayback of customized audio provided by the game player. Playback ofthe customized audio may occur on the client device 102 of the playerthat generated the audio. Playback of the customized audio may also bedistributed over a network for playback to all other game players takingpart in the particular session of game play (e.g., a player controllingthe pitcher and a player controlling an outfielder).

Electronic game 104 may also provide audio processing capabilities. Theplayer may utilize these capabilities to enhance or otherwise manipulateplayer-generated audio and thereby positively affect the gamingexperience. For example, in the aforementioned electronic game, a playermay provide a single voice audio input to client 102. The user may thenapply the processing capabilities provided by execution of theelectronic game 104 at client 102 to, for example, generate a crowdchant thereby creating the illusion of mass participation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of an exemplary computing device 250 thatmay be utilized for the introduction of player-generated audio in anelectronic game executed in a network gaming environment, namely theprocessor configuration thereof. The exemplary computing device 250 ofFIG. 2 may be implemented in the context of client 102 for playingelectronic game 104. The architecture of computing device 250 may bebased on a Cell processor 252. Certain aspects of a computerarchitecture and high speed processing model utilizing a Cell processorare disclosed in U.S. patent publication number 2002-0138637 for a“Computer Architecture and Software Cells for Broadband Networks,” thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Additional information may be found at the Cell Broadband Engine™ PublicInformation and Download Site (http://cell.scei.co.jp/e_download.html),specifically documentation entitled “Cell Broadband Engine™Architecture” (V 1.01 dated Oct. 3, 2006) and “Synergistic ProcessorUnit (SPU) instruction Set Architecture” (V 1.2 dated Jan. 27, 2007).The disclosure of each document is incorporated herein by reference. TheCell processor architecture represents the work of Sony ComputerEntertainment Inc., Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, and International BusinessMachines Corporation.

Through the use of the aforementioned Cell processor, data andapplications may be processed and packaged into uniquely identified anduniformly formatted software cells. The uniformity of structure andunique identification facilitates the processing of applications anddata throughout a network of Cell processor equipped computing devices.For example, one computing device may formulate a software cell butdistribute that cell to another device for processing. Thus, the cellsmay migrate throughout a network for processing on the basis of theavailability of processing resources on the network.

The cell processor 252, in one exemplary embodiment, includes a mainmemory 254, a single power processor element (PPE) 256 and eightsynergistic processor elements (SPE) 258. The cell processor 252 may beconfigured, however, with more than one PPE and any number of SPEs 258.Each SPE 258 comprises a synergistic processor unit (SPU) and a localstore (LS).

Memory 254, PPE 256, and SPEs 258 may communicate with each other andwith an I/O device 260 over, for example, a ring-type-elementinterconnect bus (EIB) 264 coupled to a bus interface controller (BIC).The PPE 256 and SPEs 258 may access the EIB 264 through bus interfaceunits (Bill). The PPE 256 and SPEs 258 may access the main memory 254over the FIB 264 through memory flow controllers (MFC) and memoryinterface controller (MIC).

Memory 254 may include a program 262 that implements executableinstructions. The instructions may be read from a CD/ROM or otheroptical disc in CD/DVD reader 266 coupled to the I/O device 260, theCD/ROM or other optical disc being loaded into the reader 266. TheCD/ROM, too, may comprise a program, executable instructions, or otherdata 274. Other information may be introduced to the computing device250 through peripheral devices (not shown) such as a wireless or USBmicrophone headset. This information may include player-generated audio,which may then be processed by the processor 252 for distribution over anetwork to other client devices.

PPE 256 may be a standard processor capable of stand-alone processing ofdata and applications. In operation, PPE 256 may schedule andorchestrate the processing of data and applications by SPEs 258 and theassociated SPU. The SPU may be a single instruction, multiple data(SIMD) processor. Under the control of PPE 256, the SPUs may processdata and application in a parallel and independent manner. MIC maycontrol accesses by PPE 256 SPUs to data and applications in main memory254.

Referring to method 300 of FIG. 3, in step 310, an audio clip isreceived at Client 102 as generated by the player. This audio clip maybe input to the client 102 and an electronic game 104 through amicrophone or some other audio input device coupled to the client 104.The audio clip may also be introduced in the form of computer-readablestorage media, the media having the clip stored thereon (e.g., a flashcard or CD-ROM). The audio clip may be a simple phrase, a series ofphrases or expressions, or may be a more complex and involved piece ofcontent such as a song or sound track. In the latter instance, the songmay be direct from a music CD that one might purchase in a store orelectronic content downloaded from an on-line music provider. Audio clipmay be stored directly in memory of the client 102 as may be the casewhen the clip is introduced through a microphone. The clip may beaccessed as needed from the computer-readable medium. Clips fromcomputer-readable storage media may also be transferred and stored onthe client 102.

In some embodiments, step 310 may be conducted in the context ofelectronic game 104 or through a menu separate from game play such thatthe player has suspended game play in order to provide the audio. Arecording interface may be made available to the player for recordingthe audio clip. Such an interface may display audio levels in arecording level meter, allow the player to start or stop the recordingof an audio clip, or initiate playback of a captured audio clip suchthat the player may listen to the audio before accepting a recording.

Upon recording, the player may be prompted by electronic game 104 viathe recording interface to provide further instructions regardingplayback of the audio. This may include optional modification orprocessing in step 320 or customization of playback in electronic game104 as may occur in step 340. Event association in step 330 may alsooccur via this interface.

In optional step 320, one or more modifications may be applied to thereceived audio clip. These modifications may occur through any number ofdigital signal processing techniques as are generally known in the art.For example, in step 310, a player may introduce a cheer or a chant.That cheer or chant, however, will be largely ineffective and seemout-of-place when uttered by a single user in the context of a stadiumor arena environment as may be the case of a sporting game. Through theapplication of audio modification, however, the chant may be processedto sound as if it comes from dozens, hundreds, or thousands of otherpersons that might be present in the area or stadium.

Variations in tone and other acoustic properties may be applied suchthat the audio clip does not merely sound as if it is being uttered byhundreds of people in the exact same tone (e.g., the clip may bemodified to sound as if it is being uttered by men, women, andchildren). These variations may be automated in the context of the game104. For example, a user might input the audio clip and then select in agame menu an option to ‘apply chant processing.’ The game 104 may thenexecute the necessary processing to effectuate the aforementionedchanges. In some embodiments, however, the game 104 may offer mixingtools where a user may manually make audio modifications to the file.These modifications may include, for example, the aforementionedaddition of number of persons chanting, the environmental acoustics, thetone of the persons chanting, and the gender and age of the personschanting. Audio clips may also be ‘pre-processed’ by another audiomixing application separate from the game 104 and then simply introducedto the client 102 as was the case in step 310 above.

In step 330, the audio clip, which may have been processed in step 320,is associated with an event in electronic game 104. Game events areinclusive and may encompass any repeatable and/or categorical instancein game 104. For example, in the context of a baseball game, aparticular player stepping up to bat may constitute an event. In afootball game, completion of a pass more than a certain number of yardsmay constitute an event. In a military role playing game, eliminating atarget may constitute an event. In a racing game, beating a particularcompetitor or competitors may constitute an event. These examples allreflect the breadth and inclusive nature of game events that may beassociated with the audio clip.

Audio clip may be a clip having been immediately presented in step 310.Audio clip may also be stored on client 102 or some other storage mediumwithout an immediate association to a game event. A player may thenretrieve a previously stored audio clip and associate it with a gameevent in step 330. Certain default setting may also apply in electronicgame 104 concerning a default category or library of clips as theypertain to a similar catalog of game events. These default settings maybe applied until a new association is made (or removed) and/or otherwisecustomized as described in step 340 below.

Events eligible for association may be categorized by a designer of agame or may be selected by a game player. Selection of events forassociation and the actual association of events may occur through menunavigation whereby an event or groups of events is identified, selected,and then a particular audio clip is identified and selected andassociated with the previously selected event. In some embodiments,certain application programming interfaces (APIs) may be made availablewhereby a more advanced game player can associate audio clips withparticular events not otherwise identified in the likes of a drop downmenu. Similarly, a user may be able to use such APIs to expand theevents eligible for association with an audio clip.

In optional step 340, the audio clip-event association playback may becustomized. For example, the game player may not want a particular audioclip to be played each and every time a particular player steps up tothe plate. In such an instance, the player may set the frequency toevery other time, every third time, a randomized selection, or any otherparticular frequency as may be applicable to the event in the game.Other aspects of the association may be characterized including durationof playback. By further example, the audio clip-event associationplayback may only occur if a particular other player or competitor isalso present in a networked game play session. Similarly, the audioclip-event association playback may only be presented over the game playnetwork to a particular player or group of players instead of allplayers involved in the session.

A player may also have associated a number of audio clips with aparticular event. Through customization, the player may set a randomizerwith respect to which of the audio clips is played in the context ofthat particular event. Customization may occur through a menu or someother interface or be more complexly coded through the use of APIs asdiscussed above. Alternatively, a default setting may be used. In step350, the audio clip-event association and any customization informationis stored.

The player may provide additional audio clips in which case steps310-350 may be repeated. Alternatively, the player may begin game playof electronic game 104 utilizing the aforementioned audio clips. Uponexecution of the event in electronic game 104—and subject to anycustomization or other limitations—the associated audio clip isretrieved from memory and play of the audio clip is initiated in thecontext of the game event. Playback of that clip, again subject to anycustomization limitations, may be transmitted over the game play networkto other game players involved in a particular gaming session.

The audio clip may be played (locally) via an audio player on client 102or on an audio device independent but otherwise coupled to client 102.Transmitting the audio clip to another client device in the game networkand/or session may occur via network cables, network 106, or via an adhoc network to another client 102.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system 400 that may be used forincorporating player-generated audio in an electronic game executed in anetwork gaming environment including the exemplary processorconfiguration of FIG. 2. System 400 may constitute a portion of or theentirety of client 102. System 400 may execute all or portions of method300 for incorporating player-generated audio into electronic game 104.

A player may make use of microphone 410 in order to record an audioclip. The input to microphone 410 may be passed to interface 420.Interface 420 is inclusive of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, anIEEE 1394 interface, an wireless interface, which (in some instances)may be network interface 490 as discussed below. Interface 420 islikewise inclusive of a memory card interface. Audio input may also beprovided through the likes of an optical disc and optical disc controlunit/reader not shown).

Interface 420 is coupled to input/output processor (IOP) 430 via one ormore system bus, which may or may not be dedicated depending on aparticular implementation of system 400. IOP 430 controls data exchangesbetween interface 420, Cell processor 252—as was previously described inthe context of FIG. 2—sound processing unit (SPU) 480, network interface490, and memory 440. IOP 430 also controls a variety of other systemcomponents including graphics processing units (not shown and controllerinterfaces (not shown) as well as optical disc control units (not shown)and hard disc drive (not shown). The SPU 480 executes instructions andprocesses data to produce sound signals that may be output on an audiodevice such as speaker. Sound signals may likewise be transmitted overnetwork 106 via network interface 490. Network interface 490 provideshardware functionality for the system 400 to connect to a network, whichmay or may not be wireless. Network adaptor 490 may also include oraccess certain software in the system 400 to allow for identificationand connection to a particular Internet Protocol address and/or connectto a particular Internet Service Provider. Software may also provideother functionalities, such as the creation and maintenance of userprofiles. Network interface 490 may allow for communications over alocal area network or point-to-point network (e.g., receivinginstructions from a wireless control device). Network interface 490 mayconcurrently operate to allow for wide area network communications, suchas those over the Internet or with a remotely located client device (asshown in FIG. 1).

Cell processor 252 executes programs stored in, for example, memory 440.Cell processor 252 may likewise access and/or store information inmemory 440 that may be needed and/or generated by one of theaforementioned programs. Memory 440 may contain pre-stored programs andmay also contain programs transferred via the TOP 430 from a CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, or other optical disc (not shown) using an optical disc controlunit (not shown) or from the network 106 via network interface 490 aswell as interface 420.

In FIG. 4, memory 440 includes a digital signal processing engine 450,scrubber application 460, and game data 470 all of which may have beenaccessed via the likes of an electronic game 104. Game data 470 mayinclude actual game data (e.g., rendering instructions). Game data 470may also include data generated for the game, including audio clips andaudio-clip/event association data.

Execution of digital signal processing engine 450 by processor 252 mayallow for manipulation or processing of a pre-recorded audio clip inputvia interface 420. A player may choose to apply various modifications tothe audio clip through digital signal processing engine 450. Scrubberapplication 460 may be executable by processor 252 to block unwantedaudio transmissions sent over network 106. An example of such a scrubberapplication is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/633,688filed Dec. 4, 2006 and entitled “Removing Audio Disturbances in aVoice/Chat Network.” Scrubber application 460 may be a part ofelectronic game 104 or a software application installed from anothersource outside of electronic game 104.

e As noted above, game data 470 may include data for the execution ofelectronic game 104 or may concern data about or for electronic game 104including audio clip data. Cell processor 252 may create an associationin memory 440 or some other database between the audio clip and theselected game event in response to a user instruction. Upon occurrenceof the related event in the electronic game 104 and satisfaction of anycustomized aspect of the same, the audio clip may be retrieved andplayed back through the SPU 480 and a related output device (such as aspeaker) and/or transmitted over network 106.

The methods identified in FIG. 3 (and the order thereof) are exemplaryand may include various alternatives, equivalents, or derivationsthereof including but not limited to the order of execution of the same.The steps of the method of FIG. 3 and its various alternatives may beembodied in hardware or software including a machine-readable storagemedia (e.g., optical disc and memory card) including programs and/orinstructions executable by a machine such as the processor of acomputing device. Likewise, the components shown in FIG. 4 are meant tobe exemplary components in a hardware system configured to execute themethods described in FIG. 3. As such the descriptions and drawingsshould not be considered in a limiting sense, as it is understood thatthe disclosure presented is illustrative and not restricted to theembodiments discussed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for incorporating player-generated audioin an electronic game, the method comprising: receiving user selections,via a graphical user interface associated with an electronic game, thatidentifies one or more audio files; receiving user selections, via thegraphical user interface, that customizes the selected audio files,wherein the customization instructs a processing of the selected audiofiles in order to generate audio clips to be played within theelectronic game; associating the generated audio clips with one or moreevents within the electronic game, wherein at least one of the events isassociated with two or more audio clips; detecting that the at least oneevent associated with two or more audio clips within the electronic gamehas occurred; and automatically playing one of the associated audioclips based on the detected event occurrence, wherein the played audioclip is selected for play from the two or more associated audio clips.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio file includes a recording ofthe player's voice.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the audio file is asubsection of an audio file.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the audiofile includes music.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphicaluser interface includes a plurality of parameters that facilitates usercustomization of the audio clip to be played within the electronic game.6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of parameters thatfacilitate user customization of the audio clip include identifyingaudio levels of the audio clip, dictating what portion of an audio fileto use for the audio clip, and replaying the generated audio clip forthe user to review.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality ofparameters that facilitate user customization of the audio clip includesadding additional audio to the audio file, an altering the variations intone and other acoustic properties of the additional audio.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the associated events include one-timeevents, repeatable events or categories of two or more events.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the associated events include default eventsat least until the user associates new events for the audio clip. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein the association of the audio clip withone or more events includes customizing a frequency of playing the audioclip when the associated event occurs.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the association of the audio clip with one or more eventsincludes customizing duration of playing the audio clip when theassociated event occurs.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein selection ofone of the associated audio clips is performed randomly.
 13. A methodfor incorporating player-generated audio in an electronic game, themethod comprising: receiving user selections, via a graphical userinterface associated with an electronic game, that identifies one ormore audio files; receiving user selections, via the graphical userinterface, that customizes the selected audio files, wherein thecustomization instructs a processing of the selected audio files inorder to generate audio clips to be played within the electronic game;associating the generated audio clips with one or more events within theelectronic game, wherein at least one of the events is associated withtwo or more audio clips; detecting that the at least one eventassociated with two or more audio clips within the electronic game hasoccurred; and automatically playing one of the associated audio clipsbased on the detected event occurrence, wherein the played audio clip isselected for play from the two or more audio clips.